Kathryn Reiss

In 1977 San Francisco, Julie wants to be just like her new friend Carla, until she discovers that Carla is either in big danger or telling big lies.

When Julie visits Gold Moon Ranch, a farming commune in California's gold rush country, the back-to-the-land lifestyle seems idyllic at first. But peculiar problems keep cropping up, almost as if someone was trying to shut down the commune! Then, on a secret trip to an abandoned gold mine, Julie stumbles on a mysterious message that hints at long-lost treasure. Julie is desperate to find it, before danger closes in on Gold Moon Ranch.

Miranda isn't happy when sullen orphan Abby Chandler comes to live with her family. But Miranda's anger turns to shock when she learns the girl's horrible secret: Abby's parents and sisters were killed in a house fire in this very town--more than three hundred years ago. Somehow Abby survived the fire and has been living in a virtual limbo ever since. Fifteen-year-old Miranda Browne, the extraordinary protagonist from Kathryn Reiss's first novel,...